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Topic Review (Newest First)

07-25-2006 01:25 PM

Warren

My 6'6" four piece Superfine is the go to rod for small stream fishing as well. I a 6-6 3wt St Croix Avid, which is club compaired to the Orvis rod. It is the only Orvis rod I own but man it is is nice.

If you are well healed, Sage TXL rods are real nice casters as well. The fly shop I frequent is a Sage dealer & he lets me use his 00 wt txl 7 footer demo rod from time to time. What a sweet brookie rod. (I have pulled in a 14 incher with it no problem). I imagine the 3 & 4 wts cast just as nice as the Superfines.

I imagine the rest of the makers make a slower action 3 or 4 wt that would fit the bill nicely as well. These are the three rods I have experience with

07-25-2006 10:54 AM

hmaadd

I use the T&T xl4 3wt. It is just right for small streams and ponds in Ga. It will cast dry flies poppers and small bead heads. Pair it with an abel tr1 and you have somehting to treasure for life. At 7'6" and 4 pieces it is very packable. Just what the doctor ordered.

07-24-2006 07:55 PM

jlsmithii

this rod is on the pricey side but it casts very nice

try the sage txl series

07-24-2006 06:18 PM

zugbugz

Here in Arizona most every stream is small and brushy...so small rods are a fact of flyfishing life if you're not on a lake. Its a ton of fun to catch even 1/2 to 1 lb trout on these rods!

I would like to second what Teflon said about the Orvis Superfines, they are wonderful rods. Orvis has several models and one that will fit your needs. The slower action makes them deadly accurate casters up close. I wish I hadn't sold my 6'6" 2 wt, 2 piece Superfine!

But I now have two small 3 weights that work beautifully as well. The first is a G. Loomis GL3, 6'6", 3 weight, 2-piece that is simply great for small brush-filled streams or fly fishing for bluegills and crappie. Unfortunately, G. Loomis has discontinued this size. They can be found on ebay however. I have a now discontinued Ross Colorado size '0' click and pawl reel on it which looks great and compliments the rod perfectly.

The other rod I HIGHLY recommend is the G. Loomis Metolius, 7 ft, 3 wt, 3-piece "Presentation" action fly rod. I also have one of these and it is awesome. It casts beautifully to about 40-50 ft, or perhaps a bit more, but is superbly accurate at close distances and a real delight to use. I love this rod! A bonus is it's beautiful to look at. I have an Orvis CFO I disc drag reel on it (drag not needed however, especially at this weight) that is a perfect match. By the way, I recommend using the smallest reels on 3 wts, even though the reels may be rated for 0-3 wts. They balance better and usually will hold up to 50 yds of 20 lb backing with a WF3F line, which is MORE than enough. If you can find a tiny click and pawl, it makes for a perfect match with these tiny rods. The "clicker" reels are getting tougher to find, but you can still buy light ones from TFO (TFO I) and you can still find CFO and Ross Colorado clickers on ebay. Of course, Hardy still makes them, but theirs are really expensive.

Well, good luck, hopefully you will find the setup you desire!

Zugbugz - Arizona

07-24-2006 04:12 PM

tight-lines

rainshadow

I love my rainshadow 6'-6" 2wt I fish a lot of small streams in Pa and it does a great job. Nice mid flex that will let you do a nice roll cast but still have enough to throw a 40' line as well(althoughht that almost never happens). The only thing I can say about lenth is if I'm fishing small brushy streams I will always go for the 6' before the 8' I seem spend alot more time with my fly on the water instead of my tip in the brush that way. But thats just my two cents. Good luck it's alot of fun and there are some real bruiser's in some of those little fished streams.

07-24-2006 04:10 PM

flytyer

A 7'-7'6" pack rod for a 3 or 4 wt would be perfect. Just get a rod with the type of action you like and within your budget in this size range. Longer than 7'6" is tough to cast with when there is brush overhead, besides, longer is not needed since you are not going to be casting very far. Me, I have a 7'6" 4wt for fishing the small brushy streams.

07-24-2006 09:16 AM

teflon_jones

How much are you looking to spend?

By far the best small stream/small fish rig I've ever used is my Orvis Superfine. It's landed everything from 3" brookies to 4 lb smallmouth. The full flex blank allows you to cast tiny flies and short distances easily since the rod loads so easily, but it still has enough power to cast big streamers long distances. I can't say enough good things about it. They have a bunch of Superfine rods that would meet your needs. They have a 4 wt 7 ft 4 pc rod that would be great pack rod if you want to go to those mountain lakes. I have the 7'6 4 wt 2 pc.

07-24-2006 07:55 AM

jhicks

Don't forget that with a long stick 8-10ft you can high stick small streams very effectively, and still have enough stick to roll cast larger pools. I used my 8'6" Orvis TLS in North Carolina. I was glad that I had the longer stick as I came across some good size pools that required some tricky casting. I don't think that I could have done as well with drag free drifts with a 7' stick.

07-24-2006 12:00 AM

wadecalvin

tiny outfit for small streams

Eventually I'd like to get a small outfit for fishing small brush lined streams that yeild mostly 6-12 inch trout and the rare 14 incher. Possibly I would pack it into an occasional high mountain lake for dry fly fishing on a really calm day for about the same size trout. I know nothing about outfits in the #3 size give or take a size range but it sure seems like it might be fun to use one.